THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 1, 1995 TAG: 9412300118
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
``I.Q.'' obviously hopes to be the ``dating movie'' of the holiday season.
With ``Speechless'' proving to be a disappointment, it would seem to have clear coasting ahead. Two problems prevent that: miscasting of the two stars and a deadly-slow pace.
Meg Ryan can be, and usually is, adorable when her blond hair and blue-eyed perky looks are put to use playing vulnerable, kooky characters (``Sleepless in Seattle'').
In ``I.Q.'' she is cast as a mathematical genius - a stretch, even if Catherine, the girl she plays, is a bit of a klutz. Catherine is snobby enough to want to marry only another genius. She has chosen a stodgy psychologist, played by Stephen Fry.
Tim Robbins plays Ed, the good-hearted but slightly dopey auto mechanic at the neighborhood garage. He takes one look at Catherine and falls for her. He supposedly has no chance, though, because he's just an ordinary guy.
Her Uncle Albert comes to his rescue. The uncle is none other than Albert Einstein, as played by Walter Matthau. Uncle Al passes off Ed as a scientific brain who has invented a new formula that will change the world. The trouble is that we have to convince first Meg and then the world that Ed is really a genius.
It's silly, but that's OK. An attempt to revive the screwball comedies of the past is welcomed. The trouble is that Fred Schepisi's direction is too heavy-handed. The movie is played so slowly and with such long stretches of no laughs that we almost forget that we aren't supposed to take the whole thing seriously.
Matthau is quite funny, if only to see how far he'll go with the German accent. Also funny is his German chorus of three egghead old fogies who conspire with him to fool Catherine. They're played by stage veterans Lou Jacobi, Gene Saks and Joe Maher. (There is a hilarious scene when they try to help Ed cheat on a multiple-choice quiz.)
The emphasis, though, is on the conniving rather than on the romance. Eventually, you wonder why Ed doesn't just court Catherine with his own wiles. There's no suspense, because everyone knows how this is going to end.
Ryan and Robbins are miscast in that they both are kooky stars and the script calls for opposites that attract. The scheming is too heavy-handed to be really funny. (The plot smacks of the classic screwball comedy ``Ball of Fire'' with Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper. It's a good plot and, played with style, would have worked.)
Pacing and casting prevent ``I.Q.'' from emerging as a real winner. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
PARAMOUNT
Walter Matthau plays Albert Einstein in the new comedy ``I.Q.''
Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
I.Q.
Cast: Meg Ryan, Tim Robbins, Walter Matthau, Charles Durning,
Gene Saks, Lou Jacobi, Joseph Maher
Director: Fred Schepisi
Screenplay: Andy Breckman and Michael Leeson
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
MPAA rating: PG (nothing offensive)
Mal's rating: Two 1/2 stars
Locations: Cinemark Movies 10, Greenbrier Mall in Chesapeake;
Janaf in Norfolk; Lynnhaven Mall, Pembroke Cinemas 8, Surf-n-Sand
Movies 8 in Virginia Beach.
by CNB